MOSCOW, IDAHO (Feb. 7) - The New Mexico State women's
basketball team dropped a 72-53 game to the Idaho Vandals on Thursday, Feb. 7. The
Vandals sweep the 2012-13 series against the Aggies after winning the first
meeting of the season at the Pan American Center early in January. The team now
moves to 9-13 on the season with a 3-9 overall Western Athletic Conference
record.

For her sixth game this season, senior Stefanie Gilbreath
picked up more than 20 points, finishing the night with 21 and sinking all but four
in the second half. She was accompanied by sophomore Danesia Williamson, who
worked for 12 points on the game, her best in as many as six games. The only
two Aggies in double figures, the pair tallied more than half of the Aggies
total points on the game.

Senior Camila Rosen was not far behind with eight points,
while leading all players with 10 rebounds. Rosen had eight of those on the
offensive side of the ball, helping to contribute to the team's 12
second-chance points. Four of junior Jasmine Rutledge's five boards were also
from the offensive side. The team totaled 40 rebounds and allowed the Vandals
42 on the night.

"That was a tough loss for us," head coach Mark Trakh said. "Those
ones are hard to swallow. But I can't say enough that our defense is doing some
great things out there. We are making some progress with offensive rebounds and
our points in the paint. We'll be OK."

The Aggies took the quick lead with a layup by senior Kelsie
Rozendaal, but were slowed down by Idaho's Christina Salvatore, who had 12
points against the Aggies. As Idaho quickly took the lead and ran with it, NM
State stopped a six point run in the middle of the first half with a layup by
Williamson inside the paint.

Idaho was quick to regain momentum on its lead, finishing
the half 14 points ahead of the Aggies with a three and two good buckets in the
last three and a half minutes of the period. Williamson led the Aggies at
intermission with eight points and Rosen was on top defensively with six
rebounds. NM State shot 33.3 percent in the opening period but was less than 10
percent from behind the three-point arc for the lowest percentage this season.

In the second half, Gilbreath earned 17 of her points by
opening the period with an Aggie three pointer. The Vandals answered back by
going up by 23 with more than 15 minutes to play and kept the gap large until
Gilbreath hit a jumper and a three in the five-minute mark for NM State. Unable
to gain traction in the second half, the Aggies went nearly three minutes
scoreless before finishing the game with a jumper by Rutledge with just over
one minute to play. Her shot put the final score at 72-53 in favor of the
Vandals.

The Aggies now head north to meet Seattle U on Saturday,
Feb. 9. The game time is set for 5 p.m. and can be heard on www.nmstatewports.com or with Jay
Sanderson on KSNM AM570.